Unlocking The Genetic Mysteries Of E.Coli

Government Scientist Try To Understand Reasons Behind Increases In Beef Contamination

(AP)  Cattle wander among earth-covered bunkers that dot the landscape just west of this tiny rural town.

The bunkers are remnants of a Naval ammunition depot that produced bombs during World War II. The depot is now an animal research center where government scientists are working to unlock secrets contained in the genetic makeup of the cattle.

Their focus: the E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria, which can kill if it reaches the dinner table.

"Our purpose is to save little kids' lives," said Mohammad Koohmaraie, director of the center.

The scientists at the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center say they still don't know why the number of beef recalls soared in 2007 or why E. coli contamination appeared to be rising.

"What we try to do is increase our understanding as much as possible about the bug," Koohmaraie said.

The lab has its own feedlot and a herd of about 6,500 cows that are used for genetic research.

In 2007, more than 30 million pounds of ground beef were pulled off the market in 20 recalls because of possible E. coli contamination. That included the second-largest recall in U.S. history, which put Topps Meat Co. out of business.

At least 67 sicknesses were linked to last year's beef recalls. No deaths were reported. In 2006, there were just eight beef recalls and no reported illnesses.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that E. coli sickens about 73,000 people and kills 61 each year in the United States. Most of the deaths are people with weak immune systems such as the elderly or very young.

The bacteria was discovered in the late 1970s and is present in the intestines of most cattle. It also can be found in deer, goats and sheep. It doesn't cause problems for the livestock, but the E. coli 0157:H7 variant can cause severe illness in humans.

Symptoms of E. coli infection include stomach cramps and diarrhea that may turn bloody within one to three days.

The large scope of the research being conducted at the Meat Animal Research Center sets its work apart from research at universities and other labs in the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

"The uniqueness of what we do is in the sample size," Koohmaraie said. "We really don't speak unless we have confidence in the data. A bug like E. coli 0157:h7 is really problematic if you don't design the experiment properly."

One of the lab's current projects will test whether feeding cattle distiller's grain - a byproduct of making the gasoline additive ethanol - has any effect on the level of E. coli and the quality of meat produced.

The Nebraska Corn Board suggested the distiller's grain research last spring, and the lab agreed because more and more feedlots are using the ethanol byproduct, Koohmaraie said.

The research involves 600 cattle. Half are being fed a traditional grain feed and half are being fed distiller's grain. The research will wrap up in June after the cattle have been sold for slaughter and samples of their carcasses have been collected.

Smaller studies already suggest a link between distillers grain and high levels of the bacteria. For instance, researchers at Kansas State University said last fall they found that cattle fed distiller's grain are twice as likely to carry E. coli 0157:H7.

The meat industry significantly increased its efforts to control E. coli after the 1993 outbreak in which four children died and hundreds of people became ill after eating undercooked hamburgers from Jack in the Box restaurants.

The Clay Center lab, which is about 120 miles southwest of Omaha, didn't really have much of a food safety research program until the Jack in the Box outbreak, Koohmaraie said. After that, Congress and the USDA made it a priority to learn more about E. coli and other pathogens.

A great deal of research had already been done on E. coli by then, but the Clay Center lab made an important discovery: E. coli was getting into meat processing plants on the hides of cattle as well as inside the animals' intestines.

That work contributed to the development of systems to wash the hides of cattle and the carcasses with either hot water or chemical solutions as they enter the processing plants.

The lab determined which solutions work best and how washing systems should be designed.

Warren Mirtsching, who oversees food safety for JBS Swift & Co, said the lab showed how valuable a hide washing system can be and that meat packing plants didn't have to spend millions to install an effective system.

"I think they perform a very special niche," Mirtsching said. "They are the validator."

[brianbwb-2009]

"The scientists at the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center say they still don''t know why the number of beef recalls soared in 2007 or why E. coli contamination appeared to be rising."

And "scientists" are supposed to be smart? Greed leads to cost cutting, and washing is a labor cost that they cut, keeping the slaughtering tools clean is a cost they cut, proper storage, refrigeration, transport and packaging, are all subject to cost cutting that degrades the safety measures in place.

Fewer inspections, (thanks to Bush cutting the "cost" of the food safety monitoring) and inconsequential sanctions for violators (thanks again to Bush''s "business can do no wrong" attitude) are all factors in the rise of food borne health threats.

[g-gfather]

How unsustainable life has become at the hands of human beings. The natural consequences of living unnatural lives is extinction. Abiding by the laws of nature has sustained we humans. Violation of the same by acts of greed, and immorality have taken the path to helll on earth and force other creatures that provide for our sustanence to live in this helll. How prophetic the words the the Great Chief Seattle, when he indicated that greed and immorality would cause we humans to drown in our own excrement RETURN TO THE LAWS OF NATURAL AND HUMANE LIVING IN THE WAYS THE RAISE AND CARE, YES CARE!! FOR ALL OUR CREATURES, OR LIFE WILL NOT BE SUSTAINED. LOVE TO ALL. Great-grandfather.

[bandolph]

"I seen this cow lying on top of a huge pile of *****" The ows do that because the ***** is cooler than the ground in summer and warmer than the ground in winter.

Are meat inspectins until just the last few years contained NO testing for e-coli. It was just smelled.

[xxbonoxx]

Invest in Bioniche Life Sciences (Public, TSE:BNC), they trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange. They are the first to create an E-Coli Vaccine...that is seconds from getting full approval...it is already approved in other countries and they cannot keep up with the demand. Incredible BUY at $0.77 after all this market mayhem, some analysts predict it going to $3.00 very short term!

[shanev137]

It''s pretty hilarious they have team of scientists working on this. I''m not even a rancher and know why it''s happening. MONEY. Cows aren''t even cows anymore. The minute they''re born they are shot up with all kinds of unnatural drugs. They''re given steroids to make them get fatter quicker and placed in overcrowded and unclean feedlots where they can barely move around. All in the name of profitably. And now the next step of profitability is cloning.

[grammawhamma]

I say part of the propblem is that we have become a too sterile generation. People live in sterile homes running around with a can of lysol in their hands and then sterilize their hands with anti bacterial soap.

Dogs lick each others butts and don''t get sick. Homeless people can eat rotten food crawling with magots out of a dumpster and don''t get sick. Third world countries with raw sewage running in open ditches survive.

We have become too sterile for our own good and are losing our natural immunities.

[rf35]

What''s wrong with cloning for meat? Start with a healthy animal and you get another healthy animal. Maybe several healthy animals. The possible premature aging thing shouldn''t be much of an issue since the animals will be slaughtered upon reaching maturity.

Ya know, maybe all these recent disease outbreaks and new diseases are nature''s way of thinning the (human) herd. Since we can''t seem to stop ourselves from having multiple kids, something has to do it.

[amazedd]

Bacteriophage Inc.

[rf35]

The only thing worng with children is that many people have too many of them. One is fine. Two is OK, but will only result in population sustainment, not reduction. Three or more is why the planet is in trouble.